Dragon Nest NA – 80 Cap Valkyrie/Sting Breezer PVE Guide & Build

This will be a guide on Valkyrie in a PVE/Raid setting at level 80 cap in the game Dragon Nest. Valkyrie’s are also known as Sting Breezer in DN SEA. This is my first time writing a guide so I definitely want to know what you think or if you think I should add/change anything.

PROS: Why Valkyrie? Valkyrie’s do more consistent damage over time and do not rely on RNG for our burst (coughdragoon) and we have inherent light damage. Light meta ftw. Also, our skills are pretty. HAVE YOU SEEN CHAMPAGNE? (Our Ultimate)

CONS: Our main DPS skills require a relatively immobile boss. If the boss is extremely mobile, DPSing will be a pain. Despite its beauty, our ultimate is not very useful because it has a long casting time, low super armour and requires you to stand in its circle for its buff to work.

I play on the DN North America server, IGN Iady (yes that’s an i…. :c) with the guild “Sexy“. I noticed that while there are multiple skill builds floating around and many skill breakdowns, but there aren’t as many guides on how to play this class. So I have compiled most of the information that I have learned or read about in this guide. I hope you find it useful 🙂

I will be focusing on skill rotations dungeons/raids, when to harmonize, skill plates.

The first thing everyone should know is that Valkyries are essentially blegh until level 80 when you get Vengeance from Above (SEA: Poking Beehive) EX. This skill allows you to detonate Piercing Spike with an additional 400% damage. In addition, the main valkyrie skills do not become light elemental until you get the EX. In other words, when you are levelling a valk, you will most likely be using a lot of skills from the dragoon side (SEA: Flurry) because they do more damage. So stick it out until level 80! I promise it’s worth it.

Valkyrie’s use light magical damage and therefore your stats should be stacked in the following priority:

Stats Priority:

Light %

Magic dmg (mdmg)

Intellect

Agility/Windswept

Vitality/Life-giving

Sturdy/Adorned

Talismans should also be positioned in this priority:

Mystical enhanced talisman and Wise talisman on the 200% slots.

Fierce and Windswept on the 175% slots

Life giving and Vitality on the 125% slots

Sturdy and Adorned on the 100% slots.

Notes on Final Damage (FD) stacking: This is an expensive endeavour, by the time you choose to FD stack then you probably wouldn’t need this guide 😛 But FD would be prioritized above all the stats.

Skill Crest Plates

Harmonize: CD

Vengeance from Above: CD

Piercing Spike: Damage OR CD

Spear of Light/Twirl Trance: Damage

Enhancement Crests

You should have the following enhancement crests (level 80 Superb grade):

Mystical

Wise

Windswept

Fierce

Life giving

Health

Sturdy

Adorned

Final Damage

Technique Accessories:

Earrings: Erratic Power (High INT)

Necklace: Martial Spirit (High INT)

Ring: Piercing Spike ( 3.76% Light)

Ring: Vengeance From Above (3.76% Light)

Valkyrie’s also have high defence which is why I personally chose to stack AGI over VIT. However, this is personal preference and of course, depends on what kind of dungeon/raid you are doing.

Gear Grade:

Legendary grade black dragon is always the first choice in level 80 cap. But for those of us who are not rolling in money, get the level 80 Meteor Ranchea Gear. For those with even less money, the PVP Ruler gear is also viable.

However, IF your magic damage approaches 53,000 in town, then using Ruler set will be significantly better as the Final Damage increase will be much greater at that scale.

Note about FD stacking: If you choose to stack final damage and cannot afford BDN legendary grade gear, then you would get the Comet Ranchea set.

Dragon Gems:

Equip Wise and Life-giving gems on your armors.

Equip Wise and Light enhanced gems on your Spear, bracelet, and two rings.

Equip Morning Star’s Skill Gem on your Spear and Bracelet

Titles (Stats): These titles all stack Light% and can be easily obtained.

Provoking: Manticore Hell: Party of 2 No deaths.

Limit Breaker: Clear Green Dragon Nest under 20 minutes.

What does light % mean?

Good question. Light elemental means that all your attacks are light attack and can be stacked with light enhanced dragon gems, titles or accessories. If you go to character > change one of the three menus from the drop down menu to Elemental dmg you will see how much % you are at for each of the four elements.

If your mdmg is at 1000 and your light percent is at 10% then your total damage output will be at 1100.

Skill Rotation:

Solo/Dungeon:

The most basic skill rotation in solo/dungeon setting is Martial Spirit > Erratic Power > Dance of light (At boss if close enough, or on ground in front of you if boss is far away) > harmonize.

These four skills are buffs and should be done before using your damage skills.

Piercing Spike (PS) > Vengeance from Above (VFA) > (Spear of Light)

This is the bread and butter of Valkyries and 80% of our damage output. Spear of Light can go before, after or in between PS and VFA. It serves as a good filler skill that does pretty decent damage. e.g. if after casting PS you notice that VFA is still on cool down, cast Spear of Light or even Dance of Light to do some damage while you wait for the cool down. You do NOT need to use VFA right next to the casted Spears. You can use VFA anywhere on the map and the Spears will still detonate with the increased % damage.

Twirl Trance > Dance of Light OR Lingering Swing > Dance of Light

Wave that spear around and the first two hits (the two images) immediately in front of you will do the highest damage so be near the thing you’re trying to kill. HOWEVER, if you can’t then what you can do is use Twirl Trance then immediately aim Dance of Light at the target. The afterimages will home in on the enemy and explode doing high damage. Imagine Dance of Light as the laser that tells the images where to explode. The same thing with Lingering Swing, you can use Dance of Light to get the images to home in on the targeted enemy. The following gif shows this combo:

Raid Setting (Light Party):

VFA + PS is always your main damage output. You have 8 seconds after casting PS to detonate with VFA. Here’s hoping the boss doesn’t move. I would suggest learning how to aim the two spikes. The spikes can travel across the map if needed.

During bursts, make sure to BUFF especially harmonize. Martial Spirit is also incredibly helpful to your party members. If you can, also throw down a Stalwart Spirit as well to give a defence boost (well…damage mitigation) to yourself and others. Dance of Light is a party buff as long as someone is within range of the yellow ring when it explodes. If you are unable to get close to the boss for whatever reason, you can aim this skill near the feet of someone who is about to use a strong skill to give them an additional 16% light buff.

IF there is a CD reduction class in the party aka Mystics or Acrobats, you can throw four or six (if you have CD plate) spears down before detonation with VFA. Boom.

With Crusaders/Guardian: Seriously, Lencea’s are Crusaders best friend. Valkyrie’s especially because we also give them an additional light (de)buff (Dance of Light). When you are partying with a crusader and they are about to use Heart of Glory + Zeal, ask them throw a flag and run to them (or they can run to you…). When you see a circle of lightening energy and a gold fist above their head or if they just look altogether way too shiny and you hear “Goddess grant me your power”, go next to them and harmonize. Ideally you would harmonizeafter Heart of Glory (and Genie by Kali’s) and before Zeal.

Side Note: This is also applicable to Dragoons (SEA: Flurry)

No Crusader/Guardian: Cast harmonize when its time to burst. e.g. When the Fel Guardian in Guardian Nest teleports to the middle. Use your good judgement, your party should tell you when the burst frame is.

A Valkyrie’s job in a raid is support DPS. We do pretty decent damage but our main role is to make sure the DPS classes get their buffs. AKA Crusader. We are necessary in a light party composition.

Erratic Power (EP)/Fatigue Management:

Erratic Power increases your Final Damage by 60% (65% with technique accessories) and it is your main self damage buff. However, it also adds 1 fatigue bubble for every two seconds EP is toggled. You will lose 1 fatigue for every second that EP is off.

Martial and Stalwart Spirit also adds 2 fatigue bubbles each time it is casted.

These fatigue bubbles can be seen underneath your MP bar and will look like a red debuff. Once the count reaches 10 you will be in fatigue. Once in fatigue, the FD boost will still be active but your movement will be -50% and you will also lose 2% of your HP every two seconds.

How to not be in fatigue: Do your skill rotation e.g. Buffs + PS + VFA and run around until your CD comes back up at which time your fatigue count will also be down. During this time you can also buff others using Dance of Light.

IF you find it necessary to keep Erratic Power toggled while you are in fatigue, e.g. during bursts, then finish your skill rotation and either flag salute/tumble away from the boss to avoid being hit due to slower movement.

Skill Build:

Here’s a skill build for you to consider. Please note that this is the one I use personally and you may find other skills more useful. Honestly, after taking the core build, the remaining 10-ish SP I just distributed by personal preference.

MikiKohaku (ty!) has pointed out that Lingering Swing will eventually be used as a debuff.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments! Feel free to contact me in game Dragon Nest North America server at Iady (with an uppercase i), Sebie or Ishabel.

Thanks also to the following people who read over this guide and corrected my errors and allowed me to make improvements:

We’re a group of individuals who love to play games and like to share our thoughts with the rest of the world. We are a team of AMAZING, FILTHY CASUALS (JK) PROSAUCE people who sift through all the games to find the best one for you :)